On October 3, the captain of the Dubai Airlines passenger plane where the security incident occurred spoke on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Captain Smitt Machel recounted the details of the attack on him. Machichel said that his back of the head was hit hard, but his first reaction was that the plane had broken down. When he realized it was the co-pilot attacking him and trying to fight back, his “vision became blurry and he could see almost nothing” and felt that the plane was falling rapidly. He tried to open the cab door, but the co-pilot closed the hatch again. Netanyahu praised Machichel's “ability to maintain a calm judgment in a desperate situation” and invited him to visit Israel. Israel's Channel 12 TV station reported on October 3 that the co-pilot of the Dubai Airlines passenger plane had operated Dubai Airlines' Dubai-Tel Aviv route several times. The last time the co-pilot involved landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv was a week before the September 30 security incident.

On October 3, the captain of the Dubai Airlines passenger plane where the security incident occurred spoke on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Captain Smitt Machel recounted the details of the attack on him. Machichel said that his back of the head was hit hard, but his first reaction was that the plane had broken down. When he realized it was the co-pilot attacking him and trying to fight back, his “vision became blurry and he could see almost nothing” and felt that the plane was falling rapidly. He tried to open the cab door, but the co-pilot closed the hatch again. Netanyahu praised Machichel's “ability to maintain a calm judgment in a desperate situation” and invited him to visit Israel. Israel's Channel 12 TV station reported on October 3 that the co-pilot of the Dubai Airlines passenger plane had operated Dubai Airlines' Dubai-Tel Aviv route several times. The last time the co-pilot involved landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv was a week before the September 30 security incident.